On July 27, 1953, an armistice agreement ending the Korean War was signed. Learn more about the Korean War. Click here.

Today is the 45th anniversary of the Korean War Armistice.

The U.S. Department of Foreign Affairs, forerunner of the State Department, was established on this day in 1789.

Figure skating champion Peggy Fleming is 50.

Singer Bobbie Gentry is 56

Singer Maureen McGovern is 49.

Director Betty Thomas is 50

Actor James Victor is 59.

TV producer Norman Lear is 76.

In 1054, Siward of Northumbria and Malcolm defeated Macbeth at
Dunsinane, a peak in Scotland.

In 1214, Philip II of France beat an allied English, Flemish
and German army under Otto IV, the Holy Roman Emperor, at the
Battle of Bouvines. This broke up the coalition and secured
Philip's position.

In 1540, Thomas Cromwell, principal adviser to King Henry VIII of England, was executed for treason.

In 1675, Henri de Turenne, French military leader in the
Thirty Years' War, was killed during the Battle of Sasbach
during the Dutch War.

In 1689, General Mackay led troops loyal to William of Orange
to subdue the Scottish Jacobites under Dundee. The royal troops
were utterly routed at the following Battle of Killiecrankie and
over 2,000 were killed.

In 1742, The Peace of Berlin between Empress Maria Theresa of
Austria and Prussia ended the first Silesian War.

In 1824, Alexandre Dumas Jr., son of the French author of
"The Three Musketeers," born. He wrote 16 plays including "Le
Fils Naturel," and the novel "La Dame aux Camelias."

In 1835, Giosue Carducci was born. Considered Italy's national
poet, he won the Nobel Prize for Literature in 1906.

In 1866, a transatlantic cable laid by the steamer Great
Eastern established reliable communication by telegraph between
the United States and England.

In 1866, The Danish constitution was altered in favor of the
king and the upper house.

In 1870, Hilaire Belloc, British writer and poet, born in
France, best known for his "Bad Child's Book of Beasts" and
"Cautionary Tales."

In 1877, Hungarian composer Erno Dohnanyi born. He wrote the
popular "Variations on a Nursery Song" and became an eminent
concert pianist. One of the architects of 20th-century Hungarian
music, he championed the music of Bartok and Kodaly.

In 1921, Canadians Sir Frederick Banting and Charles Best
isolated insulin for the first time. It proved an effective
treatment for diabetes.

In 1946, Gertrude Stein, U.S. novelist who wrote "The
Autobiography of Alice B. Toklas," died.

In 1954, Britain and Egypt initialled an agreement to end
British occupation of the Suez Canal Zone.

In 1955, Austria regained its sovereignty after 17 years of
occupation by foreign troops.

In 1970, Antonio de Oliviera Salazar died. Portuguese
politician who became prime minister in 1932 and ruled as
dictator until suffering a stroke in 1968.

In 1976, after four years of intermittent tension, Britain
broke off diplomatic relations with Uganda, the first time in 30
years that a British government had taken such a drastic step
against another country.

In 1980, Mohammed Reza Pahlavi died of cancer while in exile
in Egypt. The Shah of Iran from 1941, he lost control of his
country and fled in 1979, when revolutionary leader Ayatollah
Khomeini succeeded him.

In 1984, James Mason, English actor of stage and screen, died.
He had a long career in films including "Odd Man Out," "A
Star is Born" and "The Shooting Party."

In 1989, Christer Pettersson was found guilty and jailed for
life for the 1986 murder of Swedish Prime Minister Olof Palme.
He was later acquitted and the crime has remained unsolved.

In 1990, Belarus declared its independence from the Soviet
Union.

In 1992, voters in the Seychelles gave Socialist President
Albert Rene an overwhelming victory in the island's first
multi-party poll in 16 years.

In 1993, in Geneva, the leaders of Bosnia's Serbs, Croats and
Muslims met face to face for the first time in three months to
press rival plans for the division of their war-ravaged state.

In 1996, during the Olympic Games in Atlanta a bomb exploded
in an entertainment park, killing two and wounding 110.

In 1996, Indonesia was rocked by its worst riots for over 20
years when police stormed the headquarters of the Indonesian
Democratic Party.